in reference to several of my entries dealing with parental myths, i was asked by paul, a loyal reader of theMangoTimes (and i don’t hand that title out to just anyone), the following question: “Does looking into a microwave oven as it thaws chicken really damage your eyesight or just your appetite?”
editor’s response: paul, i spent very little time researching this…it’s late…my weekend is coming to an end…and besides that, the first website i hit had the advice i was willing to use. it seems as though this is not a parental myth, yet i don’t remember my parents being the ones that warned me about this. i think this came when i actually bought my first microwave and i read the instructions. but, if your parents warned you…consider yourself blessed. my parents could not care less if i was staring into the microwave, they just didn’t want me running up escalators or swimming in the pool before my food digested.
anyhow, in your neck of the woods (indiana actually), there are some folks that call themselves “a moment in science” and have a pretty decent website. here is their entry on the whole microwave deal. actually, they answer the “metal in the microwave” question, but along the way they mention that it is NOT okay to look into a microwave for more than a few seconds. there is a reason…it involves radiation and heated molecules…blah blah blah…you can read it. but be careful to give your kids the correct advice, otherwise you are in danger of starting a parental myth.
for example, it’s okay to say “it’s bad for your eyes,” but it’s probably not okay to say that “it will reprogram your ability to see colors.” likewise, you can warn your kids that it’s not a good thing, but you don’t want to mention that glancing at a thawing chicken through the dot-mesh microwave screen will “fry their developing rods and cones.”
so, be careful, you have the next generation to think about. we don’t need an entire generation of children ducking out of the way of microwaves.
by the way, did you read the first bit of advice on that website: don’t put animals into a microwave. i realize that myth has been circulating since we were kids, but really…if you need to be told not to put live animals in the microwave…you don’t deserve to have a microwave (and you don’t deserve to have an animal). you actually should be at the point in life where people are making your food and cutting it up into bite sized pieces and preferably serving it to you…
Posted on June 24th, 2007 by Fletch
Filed under: Letters to the Editor
First I just want to say, I don’t know why you think you are in a position to judge this matter? What about the people that do want to put their animals in microwave? Who are you to say it isn’t the best?
I think your reader Laura said it best when she said, “Anyway, the point is that just because something’s never been done before doesn’t make it wrong (or even the “good†of your “good better best†system – by the way, don’t some people like canned best? And what about those God convicts not to drink any caffeine?)” I’m not sure how it relates to this at all, but I felt like it needed to be said.
Secondly, I’d like you to please site your source on the whole not needing to digest your food before you swim, since that has always been considered very important information in our family and is oft repeated in the summertime.
No microwave– no worries about this– the whole purpose for the jet stream oven (remember those chocolate chip cookies a while back that you didn’t win???) BTW, I’m still lovin it.
And on your beer butt chicken, Shane might have to try that, he started smoking ribs Saturday for our big July 4th celebration, but still has more ribs and chicken to go. He doesn’t like the taste of beer, so drinking the rest would be out for him– but I do, so I might have to help him out there- he,he. Some men drool over cars– others are like Shane and drool over smokers.
Have a wonderful week,
Christine
Elizabeth…
my source for the “digest your food scam”? i have two…
first, me… i think it was physiology class in college when i learned that digestion of fatty foods takes over 12 hours (most opportunities to swim/eat are family bbqs – at least that’s when most parents are yelling “you’ve gotta wait before you swim”). so, no parents make you wait 12 hours right? they give you the arbitrary 1/2 hour deal. that barely get’s the food past the enzymes in my mouth…and now the digestion process is suddenly safe? i think not…
second, my dad…who is the source for much of what i know…one day we were sitting around on the back porch and i baited him with this myth. i said, “how long should i keep the kids out of the pool?”…and he said…how long do you want to not be bothered to watch every cannonball and fancy dive. scam…total scam…my life came crashing down when i found my dad lied about the cramps/dying threat and also didn’t like watching my cannon balls.
fletch
oh and i forgot to mention…coke in a bottle is best…(and i do mean a glass bottle…hecho en mexico con sucre).
christine…
let me clarify your post…
you can’t fit an animal into the jet stream? and it’s okay to stare at it when it’s making me chocolate chip cookies?
i’ll remember both…
fletch